Several vendors hawked T-shirts reading "Yo soy boricua" (I am Puerto Rican), but Frances and Harold Baker, who celebrated their 49th wedding anniversary Saturday at the Festival de la Isla in Vacaville, were not wearing them.

To hear the San Francisco couple talk happily of how they eventually ended up at Peña Adobe Park, where the 12th annual daylong event was held, proved that a festivalgoer need not claim Puerto Rican ethnicity to enjoy the festival, which celebrates the eastern Caribbean island's culture, particularly its music, food and emphasis on family.

Sitting beneath a towering, shade-giving Valley oak, the couple listened to recorded salsa music, the danceable Latin American sounds of Afro-Cuban and Puerto Rican origin, blasting from footlocker-sized speakers on the stage some 100 feet in the distance, the thrum of traffic noise on nearby Interstate 80 barely audible. It was 12:30 p.m., about 45 minutes before the first musical group was expected to play, priming the crowd for late-afternoon headliners Ray De La Paz and Maelo Ruiz, internationally known salsa singers.

"We were on a four-day trip," and the first stop was Santa Cruz on Thursday, Frances Baker said.

Her husband added, "We always liked salsa music. In our 49 years, we've never been to anything like this." They planned to spend the night in Vacaville before returning home today.

Shortly afterward, singer Luis Acosta of San Jose, standing on the stage, led a moment of prayer, followed by Katina Jesuitas of Fairfield, who sang a full-throated rendition of "The Star-Spangled Banner." Acosta, a New York native, later helped his wife, Agnes, set up their pop-up tent, which, a quick scan of the grounds revealed, was the shelter of choice among festivalgoers, many of them families.

Elaine Martinez of Alameda was one of them, who filed through security at the main gate at 10 a.m., when the festival opened.

"We come here every year," she said, relaxing under her tent with her young children, Diana and Alex.

A New Jersey native raised in Puerto Rico, she came to see and hear Ruiz, whose gold records in Puerto Rico and Colombia include "Quiero Volver" (I Want To Come Back), "Si Supieras" (If You Knew) and "Me Niegas Tanta Amor" (You Deny As Much Love to Me).

"Every year the festival is completely different," she said, praising event organizer Linda August and her staff for creating a pleasing ambiance. "It's a family event."

Vacaville native Samantha Murphy, now living in Hayward, sold beer and other alcoholic drinks and sodas as her boyfriend, Jesus Real of Vacaville, sat next to her. He noted the foot traffic at the festival was lighter by 12:30 p.m. than it was last year.

But that was likely to change late in the day, when De La Paz was scheduled to sing. A former member of Eddie Palmieri's band, he recorded in 2002 with the Spanish Harlem Orquesta, a collaboration that led to a Grammy nomination for his album "Un Gran Dia en el Barrio" (A Great Day in the Neighborhood).

In a brief interview near the stage, August recalled more than a decade's worth of changes at the festival, from a lone deejay providing all the entertainment in the early years to elite musicians such as Ruiz and De La Paz on Saturday.

She cited an expanded children's area, with bounce houses and inflatable slides and rock-climbing walls, as another example of how the festival has grown.

"Every year, we've had to add more equipment," including many more portable toilets, she noted.

By her account, the festival increasingly attracts Puerto Rican families who choose to hold their annual reunions at Peña Adobe Park.

"That's exactly what this festival is all about -- family," she said, at the same time noting her staff is ethnically diverse.

This year, the festival attracted more than two dozen vendors, from clothing, food and drink purveyors, four live bands (besides the headliners, Orquesta Bomba Mix and N'Rumba), a deejay and the Puerto Rican Bomba y Plena Dancers, the latter showcasing traditional Puerto Rican dances.

Festival spokesman James Barrera of Woodland, looking out at the growing numbers of people entering the park, said, "The crowds here have always been great. I feel like family here."